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Empire of Italy (A Confederate Victory)
The Empire of Italy (Italian: Impero d'Italia) or the Italian Empire (Italian: Impero Italiano) is a state founded in 1861 when King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy. The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Located in Southern Europe, it borders Switzerland, the Empire of Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the north, the Ottoman Empire to the east, and the French Republic to the west. In Africa, Italy possesses the entire North, West, and East Africa, and in South America Italy possesses its second largest territory, the Italian South America. At 29,199,571.9 km2 (11,274,247.6 sq mi), the Italian Empire is the world's third largest country by total area, after the British Empire and the Empire of Germany. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866: despite an unsuccessful campaign, it received the region of Veneto following Bismarck's victory. Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy accepted Bismarck's proposal to enter in a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, following strong disagreements with France about the respective colonial expansions. However, even if relations with Berlin became very friendly, the alliance with Vienna remained purely formal, as the Italians were keen to acquire on Trentino and Trieste, parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire populated by Italians. However, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed in 1918, Italy gained much of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy emerged victorious during World War I, along with Germany, and became a great power. In the mid-1920s, the Italian Empire became heavily industrialized, and began an massive and extensive military build-up, even undergoing an extensive modernization program. The Italian Royal Navy (''Regia Marina''), which had ten battleships of the ''Dante Alighieri''-, Francesco Caracciolo-, ''Conte di Cavour''-, and Andrea Doria-classes at the time, underwent massive reconstruction programs. All ten battleships were extensively reconstructed and modernized, with the four Francesco Caracciolo-class battleships being mounted with the powerful 406 mm guns in four triple turrets. Regia Marina studied design plans for a class of battlecruisers, which became the ''Design 1933'' battlecruiser. Four battlecruisers were laid down in the early 1930s, and were completed in the mid-1930s. New battleships such as the Impero Romano- and ''Littorio''-classes were also constructed in the late 1930s, with the Impero Romano-class super battleships being mounted with 510 mm guns in three twin turrets, the most powerful naval artillery ever built at the time. Save for the battleships and battlecrusiers, the Regia Marina had also studied design plans for a fleet of aircraft carriers, as they had studied the German ''Kaiserliche Marine'''s plans for the ''Graf Zeppelin''-class aircraft carriers. The results were the ''Aquila''- and ''Sparviero''-classes of aircraft carriers, which were constructed in the mid-1930s. At the time of the invasion of the Empire of Germany by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan in 1940, the Regia Marina was the world's fifth largest navy and the second largest navy in the Mediterranean, after the ''Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine''. The Royal Italian Army (''Regio Esercito'') had developed new weapons in the early 1930s to mid-1940s, such as the Semovente da 90/53 and Semovente da 149/40 heavy self-propelled guns, the P40 and Fiat M16/43 medium tanks, and the P43 heavy tank, while the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) had developed the Macchi C.202 fighter, Piaggio P.50 heavy bomber, and the Savoia-Marchetti SM.88 heavy fighter. In 1940, the Empire of Italy's ally, Germany was invaded by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan, and so World War II began. In South America, the Italian and German colonies and possessions were in danger of being overrun by Soviet forces stationed in the Soviet-controlled Aleksandre. Italy declared war on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union in support of Germany, and prepared for war with the Soviet Red Army. The Regia Marina sent some battleships and battlecruisers along with destroyers, light cruisers and submarines to defend the Italian colonial empire, while the bulk of the Italian Royal Navy remained close to mainland ports. Soviet forces in Aleksandre, backed by significant Soviet ground, air and naval forces invaded the German colonies of Klein-Venedig and New Bavaria in South America, which were soon overrun. Italy had in the 1930s began construction of massive fortifications and fortresses along the Aleksandrian-Italian-German border, which were designed to protect the Italian colonies and possessions in the Americas from any type of attack.